September 2, 2012

The last week of August was a busy one, in terms of this cancer thing.  Busy, but in a good way!  

Feeling like I had finally recovered from the ankle injury, I cautiously laced on my running shoes and slowly resumed the after-work power walks as training for the half-marathon in January.  While laid up in the evenings letting the ankle heal, I powered up Google and did some research on ankle injuries.  The single most common denominator seems to be overstriding.  In my case, take a pair of uber-long legs and combine them with some purposeful power walking (and an iPod full of fast-beat tunes) and the product is an ultra long stride.  Now, multiply that by thousands of steps over many miles and the result can be a painful ankle boo-boo. 

 

OK, so my strides aren’t that long,
but I also ain’t chasing prey across the savannah either…..

 

After this week’s walks, shortening my stride is still a work in progress – it’s difficult to retrain your body to perform a subconscious and virtually involuntary movement differently than how you’ve been doing it forever.  A shorter stride feels awkward and abnormal, but apparently it indeed helps because I had no ankle pain.  I only logged about 10 miles over three days, but it felt fabulous!  One of the benefits of joining The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training is the first-rate coaching, and I’m looking forward to it to not only get me “from couch to finish line” but to teach me how to get there injury-free.  

Thursday morning was my latest opportunity to sheathe myself in a billowing bolt of cloth, have 100cc of Omnipaque 350 injected intravenously into my body, and undergo computed tomography from my thoracic inlet to my symphysis pubis.  Sexy talk, right?  In other words, a CT scan with contrast dye of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis.



Really?  They can put a man on the moon but they can't make a
hospital gown that covers the southbound side of a northbound Terry?  Geez.



Adornments on one arm.....



 

.....and on the other.

 

All cath-ed up and ready to go.

Peace, love, and scans.

 

Like all the other CT scans, this one was quick and painless, and the nurse and radiology tech were superb.  Afterwards, it was off to work.  

 

Friday was a pretty big-deal day.  First, it was a stop at the lab for a blood-draw, to check my levels to compare them with those of three months ago.

 



Why yes, it IS hard to take a one-handed photo whilst
a needle is piercing your vein!

 

Ooooooooohhhh, pretty colors!

 

Fill 'er up!

 

Then it was up to the third floor for the appointment with Dr. Hampshire my most rad oncologist, to go over the results of the previous days’ CT scan. 

 

110/70

 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive or anxious, because even though I feel terrific, the uninvited cancer fuckers could have been partying heavily during the last three months and caused some serious damage to their host’s house (um, that’d be my BODY…..)  

 

Evidently, however, the little buggers hadn’t been throwing all-night keggers in my lymphatic system.  They’ve been quietly packing their tiny suitcases and jumping on the train out of Terryville.  Because after Dr. Hampshire told me the results of Thursday’s CT compared to March’s scan, I can officially say that the past three months have been “The Summer of My Shrinking Lymph Nodes.”  RIGHT ON!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

For those closet med-geeks (of which I am proudly one), here’s a synopsis of the lymph node changes:

 

Overall impression:

Interval decrease in the retroperitoneal, pelvic sidewall, and left supraclavicular lymphadenopathy. 

                                               CT Scan                 CT Scan
                                               March 20, 2012:      August 30, 2012:

Retroperitoneal region:

 

Left para-aortic LN*                   2.2 x 1.2 cm           1.4 x 1.0 cm

Left external iliac chain LN          1.6 x 0.8 cm           1.3 x 0.7 cm

Aortocaval LN                            1.9 x 0.7 cm           1.6 x 0.7 cm

 

Pelvic sidewall region:

 

Right external iliac chain LN        2.7 x 1.2 cm           1.4 x 0.8 cm

Left external iliac chain LN          2.9 x 1.9 cm           2.4 x 1.3 cm

 

Supraclavicular region:

There has been interval decrease in the left supraclavicular lymphadenopathy.

 

*LN = Lymph node

 

 

Dr. Hampshire joyfully told me to keep doing what I’m doing – acupuncture, diet and nutrition, supplements, and exercise – and he doesn’t need to see me again for my next CT scan and bloodwork until January.

 

 

Oncologists like to deliver good news - and patients like to hear it!

 

I still have Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  There still is no cure for it.  And it will turn someday.  But today?  It’s still an insignificant part of my life, and I plan on keeping it that way.  

 

Do I feel that the naturopathic approach caused the lymph nodes to decrease?  Definitely.  Do I think that positive thinking, good energy, and the love and well wishes from those around me played a role?  Absolutely.  The mind-body connection is a powerful force when tapped into.  I’m utterly grateful that I have people in my life who are guiding me down that path.